It was nothing more than a cameo, played in cameo sunshine, but Chris Gayle provided a teasing glimpse of what West Indies' cricket has been missing when he made his return to the side here, with a 30-ball 34 which included two sixes and four fours.

In terms of hard statistics he was overshadowed by Darren Bravo, who struck a violent century, and Dwayne Smith, who fell just four runs short of another muscular hundred as the West Indians reminded everyone why they are considered the hardest hitters in one-day cricket.

They scored 335 for five as they warmed up for Saturday's ODI against England at the Rose Bowl by overpowering a disappointing Middlesex by 228 runs. But Gayle, playing his first match for the West Indians since last year's World Cup and now available for all forms of cricket, was still the dominating presence, all the more so because his absence was a spiky, acrimonious business with the West Indies board.

The left-hander, who is perhaps the most destructive hitter in the modern game, later admitted to pre-match nerves when he said: "I'm human, so I felt a bit nervous. But now I'm really looking forward to the first ODI game. I'll be in a better state of mind. It's good to be back in the No45 [shirt] representing West Indies once more. Today was a good start."

Gayle got off the mark second ball, with a single off Tim Murtagh. But soon it was time to bring out his imprimatur. He off-drove and cover-drove successive deliveries from Robert Williams for four. Then he lifted Murtagh over wide mid-on for six and pulled the same bowler for another savage maximum over square-leg before he perished in the deep.

Darren Bravo, who had a disappointing Test series, then scored an unbeaten 112 from the same number of balls, striking the last two of the innings for six. His most important partner was Smith, a gifted hitter who is betrayed by his ODI average of 16. He has played some brutal innings and here he struck 10 fours and two sixes in an 81-ball 96.

Finally, Dwayne Bravo joined his brother and eased his way to 40 from 21 deliveries as the pair put on 73 in the final six overs. Add Marlon Samuels to this side, possibly at the expense of the exuberant Smith, and the West Indies clearly have a powerhouse of a side, even though the England attack will be a few levels above this ordinary Middlesex collection.

Gayle added: "[Ours] is a good all-round team when you look at the squad. You mention a lot of hitting power but we still have a lot to do in terms of rotating the strike, picking up singles, playing smart cricket. If we do that I'm sure we can get good runs on the board and defend it with the ball.

"Things have been progressing well and this is an important series for us leading up to the T20 World Cup. A good boost for us here will help us before the New Zealand series and the T20 World Cup and hopefully things get better. This series here is the perfect opportunity to take some pressure off each and every one of us."

Gayle then joked that his friend Kevin Pietersen, who has retired from England's one-day set-up, will be playing at the Rose Bowl. "I think he will reverse his decision – I'm looking forward to it," he grinned. More seriously, he added: "He is the best batsman in the team and I think the coach will miss him, the captain will miss him and the players will definitely miss him. And the fans as well are going to miss him.

"I guess he didn't want to play 50-over and the England rules are that once you don't play 50-over, you can't play T20. If someone wants to retire from one, I don't see the reason why that has to happen.

"It's unfortunate. He's a star player as well, he must know the workload he can take on his body. I'm sure they are going to miss him but they still have a few more to offer."